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When Does ‘Game Of Thrones’ Return? Sources Speculate That ‘Summer Is Coming’

By Bernadette Giacomazzo
Published on: 04:11 PST, Dec 23, 2016

With all of the speculation surrounding the hit HBO show, Game of Thrones, fans are certainly wondering: when does Game of Thrones return? And while much ado has been made about the fact that this will be the first season of the show that will not follow the book series by George RR Martin, there are certainly some benefits to having a unique story line. Now, however, there is some good news coming from HBO, and they suggest that Game of Thrones will return sooner than we think!

Entertainment Weekly was the first to attempt to answer the “when does Game of Thrones return” question with their recent speculation that the first episode of the seventh season will premiere sometime in the summer. This will make the newest season of Game of Thrones a bit different from other seasons, because in the past, new seasons would begin in the springtime (typically, in April).

There’s a reason for this delay, according to Entertainment Weekly: they needed winter-y locations. Because the production crew had to wait until there was snow on the ground to film some of the most pivotal scenes, filming couldn’t commence until December.

Of course, not everyone believes that we can see a new episode that quickly. In fact, according to Digital Spy, the question of “when does Game of Thrones return?” is answered by saying “much later in the summertime.” Even worse, we’ll only get seven new episodes this season (as opposed to the typical ten).

Digital Spy spoke to Casey Bloys, the director of programming at HBO, and she explained why Game of Thrones is making this decision.

“Now that winter has arrived on Game of Thrones, executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss felt that the storylines of the next season would be better served by starting production a little later than usual, when the weather is changing. Instead of the show’s traditional spring debut, we’re moving the debut to summer to accommodate the shooting schedule.”

And though no official air date has been announced for the new season, writers David Benioff and Dan Weiss have confirmed that this season will, indeed, be the penultimate season, with the final season to air in 2018.

“I’m sure on some level [HBO would] love to see the show carry on beyond the seasons that we’ve got planned, but they trust the people that they work with. So [if] we tell them that the story ends here and there is no real story beyond that endpoint, they stick with it.”

But when Game of Thrones does return, fans should be prepared to start speculating about the spin-offs that will come in their wake. According to The Week UK, there are a number of ways that the show’s spin-offs can go, to varying degrees of success. One of the best possibilities, of course, is that there will be a show about the birth of the White Walkers.

“Such a prequel might also include the “Long Night”, the longest winter in history, during which the White Walkers descended on Westeros, killing all in their path and reanimating the dead as zombie-like “wights”. They were finally defeated in the War for the Dawn, after which The Wall was raised and the Night’s Watch was founded.”

What are your thoughts on when Game of Thrones will return? Leave your thoughts about the return of Game of Thrones in the comments below.

[Featured Image by HBO]

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